leaf Burn of Avocado

sodium or chloride accumulation may cause burning of

mature avocado leaves of Fuerte and other varieties
A. D. Ayers, D. G. Aldrich, and J. J. Coony
Leaf burn of avocado is caused by California show a close relationship be- though it was not unusual for readings to
sodium or chloride accumulation in the tween total chloride and the severity of be two or more in some part of the soil
leaf, or by inadequate water supply. the tip burn. profile. The exchangeable sodium .of soil
The severest injury has been observed Mature leaves free from tip burn sel- taken from under a limited number of af-
where irrigation waters are high in chlo- dom contain as much as .5% chloride on fected trees was not above the normal
ride. Scorch or burning of mature avo- the dry weight basis. Leaves having up to range, but was slightly higher than that
cado leaves is particularly noticeable in one tenth of the blade affected may have from under normal trees. This suggests
years of lower than normal rainfall such as much as .5% to .75% chloride. When that over a period of years the avocado
as in 1947,1948,1949, and 1950. one tenth to one third of the leaf is killed may accumulate toxic levels of chloride
A number of leaves and some soils were by the tip burn, the chloride in the re- and sodium ions from soils not regarded
sampled to determine their salt status. maining live part of the leaf usually as saline or high in sodium.
The injury caused by inadequate water ranges from .75% to 1%.Concentrations This report has been confined to the
supply resembles chloride injury but in- of 1%or over are found only in the se- Fuerte variety, the principal one grown
volves a smaller portion of the leaf tip. verely burned leaves. in southern California. However, the
This study deals with injury caused by chloride type of injury or tip burn has
chloride or sodium accumulation. been noted in the field on numerous varie-
Sodium Scorch ties such as Puebla, Dickinson, Haas, and
Chloride or Tip Burn A second leaf-burn pattern, caused by the sodium-type injury has been observed
sodium accumulation, does not start at on Fuerte, Itzamna and Anaheim.
The most frequent type of scorch in the tip of the leaf but usually as necrotic A . D. Ayers is Agriculturalist, formerb chem-
avocado leaves is commonly described as or scorched spots near the margin or in ist, U . S. Salinity Laboratory, Riverside.
tip burn. The scorch starts at the tip of the interior area of the leaf. This type of D. G. Aldrich is Associate Chemist, Univer-
the leaf and progresses down the blade leaf burn is sometimes the only one oc- sity of Calijornia College of Agriculture, River-
and sometimes along the margins. This curring on the leaf; but, more frequently, side.
results in decreased functional leaf area it is found in conjunction with the tip- J. J. Coony is Farm Advisor, San Diego
of the individual leaf and an even more burn pattern characteristic of chloride County, University of California College of
pronounced decrease in the leaf area of injury and for that reason has seldom Agriculture.
the tree, because the severely affected been differentiated from it. The study reported above was made jointly by
the University of California College of Agricul-
leaves drop prematurely. Normal avocado leaves have very low ture, Riverside, and the U. S. D. A . Salinity
Analyses of affected leaves selected sodium levels, and even though leaves ex- Laboratory, Riverside, in cosperation with the
from a number of plantings in southern hibiting the typical symptoms of tip burn 17 Western States and the Territory of Hawaii.
may have accumulated as much as 1%
Tip burn of Fuerte avocado leaves typical chloride, there is frequently no corre- Leaf burn of Fuerte avocado leaves typical
of sodium Injury.
of chloride injury. sponding increase in sodium. It is only
when the interveinal or spot type of
scorch is also present that appreciable
sodium accumulations are found.
Similar leaf burn can be produced in
the greenhouse by growing small trees in
culture solutions containing added
sodium sulfate.
The greatest accumulation of chloride
occurring in any part of the tree is found
in the leaf. Sodium accumulation is as
high or higher in the small branches or
twigs than it is in the leaves. This has
been observed in field material as well as
in that grown in the greenhouse.
'Avocado trees grown in culture solu-
tions are more sensitive than most other
plants to concentrations of either chloride
or sodium salts.
The salt content of the soil found under
trees suffering from leaf burn is generally
low and would seldom place that soil in a
saline classification. The conductances of
the saturation extracts were usually less
than four millimhos per centimeter, al-

CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE, DECEMBER, 1951